Chindwin Home Based Care-SLA’s 2013 Strategy

Dear Friends, Chindwin Home Based Care SLA and all our wonderful and passionate supporters; including the tireless women and children we work with, I’d like to thank you for a successful 2012. We have recorded real changes in the lives of many families. Young children were able to go to school and sit in a secured, healthy learning environment than before, while women groups have become organized and share knowledge on sustainable income generating activities. Our focus on young adolescent girls has not been left out, as we are very aware that young girls are exclusively left out in HIV and AIDS programmes. We have championed a programme to use sports, and training workshops as drivers of change against gender based violence on young girls. We also developed safe spaces for most of our young girls to access valuable information such that can for the most part help protect them from HIV and AIDS. We have done very well on building the self esteem of the girls so that they can stand firm and not be abused. We have also taught them how to tell their stories of change so that other peers, can emulate and follow them. OUR Future for 2013 looks positive and promising. we have set out a robust but achievable plan for 2013 to focus on five pillars: Pillar# 1: Continue to help improve the lives of rural women’s livelihoods through communal sustainable farms. We want them to grow food that requires less labor and low-cost farm inputs, but yield promising results so that in return families can feed and send children to school Pillar# 2: Continue scaling up our work to promote young children’s access to basic education with a strong emphasis on young girls. We know that children’s early education and strong family support is a attestation for responsibility and commitment to long lasting development for our nation. Pillar# 3: Women continue to be the bedrock of Chindwin Home Based Care’s programme. We’ll aim to register additional women groups and support them with small innovative micro enterprise grants to help them begin or improve their livelihoods so that in return, they are able to continue doing what they do best-caring for the family! Pillar # 4: We do not want to be like other small emerging grassroots organizations that work in silos. We want to share, learn and expand our successes through a collaborative approach and document stories of change that can be adapted by other communities. Pillar# 5: Lastly, and very important; we intend to grow and reflect on our own internal processes. We’ll aim to build and strengthen our monitoring systems, remain vigilant, accountable and transparent. In 2013, we want to recognize talent among ourselves and re-position our duties by setting up clear job descriptions and roles and responsibilities, or what we now call “form-follows-functions”. We’ll also look for additional skills; and have planned for a new staff member within the first 6 months of the year. On January 30th 2013, our annual report for [2012] will be ready and as in the past, we'll share the document for your valuable feeback. Thank you and many Blessings HAPPY 2013 Mary Kombe Mukuka Director

One-size-fit Programme for Children's Rights?

Recently I came accross an article on All Africa news talking about the Convention of the Rights of Children http://allafrica.com/c/-4T7Bb #zimbabwe via @allafrica . It reminded me and my colleagues at CHBC-SLA how at times we tend to ignore our government's commitment to this very important law, and wonder why children are not knowledgeble on their own rights. At CHBC-SLA the story is different. We feel that by working through parents Teachers Associations, and getting them engaged in the affairs of not only the schools, but of the wellbeing of children, we came make a difference. Just recently we had a meeting with one local PTA in a small peri-uban community school where the PTA members have promised to "act and see change in the lives of children's rights". We asked them a few questions on what they know about "Children's Rights" and here are some of the responses: CHBC-SLA: As part of your school curriculum, do you encourage your school to teach children's rights? PTA: Yes, rights begin from home and therefore we expect children to recieve their rights even when in school. That is why in most cases, the schools do not offer any user fees but only ask children and their familes to contribute whatever they have to keep the school going. CHBC-SLA: From a scale of one- five, with five being very good, how do you rate your staff's knowledge at school when it comes to Children's Rights? PTA: Five- We are confident on this becuase we have not had any serious children's rights violations so far at our school compared to other schools CHBC-SLA: What in your opinion is an appropriate programme to enahance children's rights in community schools? PTA: There is no one-size-fits-all type of programme when it comes to promoting children's rights in school. What is critical is that the school needs to embrace children's rights as part of their bigger strateg in providing education to every child. By Theresa Bwalya Director of Recreation and OVC Programme Chindwin Home Based Care- SLA

Investing in young girls is smart economics

Just recently I came across an interesting article written by Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre (ZRC) zwrcn@zwrcn.org.zw/ in Zimbabwe talking about the value of investing in women and girls. Immediately I read this article, it reminded me of the great work Chindwin Home Based Care is currently focusing its energy to build a strong and resilient movement of women who willing to transform their lives to be a force of change. This might seem so dramatic when you read it, but with every small step we take, we continue the journey to our “north star” to ensure that women and children live in a just world where their rights are respected. So how do we go about our work? Similar to ZWRC we are bring young girls in front of the line by putting them bank into school and giving them an opportunity to build their self esteem and long term prosperity. Because there are other families who still side line girls, we are embarking on a vigorous campaign to work with Parents Teachers Associations (PTA’s) to ensure that communities are in sync with our plan to put back over 50 young girls back to school- Yes, this can happen. Women from resource poor families, spend time worrying where the next meal will come from, how to feed their children and let alone, their own personal needs. This already diminishes their self esteem and put them vulnerable in society. HIV and AIDS is the number one the need to face, as some of them end up adopting risky copying strategies in order to survive such as prostitution, and getting married into polygamous marriages. To curb these challenges, Chindwin Home Based Care SLA is working with women by providing small but innovative micro enterprise grants and offering training on sustainable livelihoods. For more information on our work, please visit the website at www.sloansassociation.org

Police officers suspected of making 30 pupils pregnant

The story published in the Zambia media that law enforcment officers (Police)made 30 pupils at Limulunga rural High School where they camped was shocking, and at the same time sickening http://www.lusakatimes.com/2012/03/17/police-officers-suspected-making-30-pupils-pregnant-mongu-riots/ Why would such events happen on innocent young girls left vulerable to these men? That is why at CHBC-SLA, we continue to do what we do- Helping young adolescent girls with basic education on how to become reslient in these difficult times of poverty and inequality. Probably these young girls were promised "goodies" or were forced to have sex. Whatever the reason, we need to help our young girls out of this situation and give them the skills to do so. Young girls/adolescent girls have the resilience to overcome such pressure; but inorder for them to do so, it has to come from their homes/parents. We need to continue providing support services to our children, even just spending a few hours a day talking to them.

Thank you

Accepting Failure is Critical for Success

Chindwin Home Based Care- SLA admits that accepting failure is vital for any grassroots organization to mature. In the year ending 2011, we have realized that not everything came so easy on our path. But in order to realize that we failed to reach our priorities, we need to accept failure. As we begin our year, we'll work on our failures and take them as a learning opportunity. We are curious to hear from our readers, how they embrace failure in the work they do. If we planned to reach out to 10 women groups to help them improve their livelihoods and at the end of the year women did not change as we had anticipated, we put on our breaks and revisit why we failed so that we mitigate the same problem the following year.